861.51/4–1847: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Secretary of State at Moscow
983. Moskco 72. Personal for the Secretary. During the debate in the Senate on Wednesday1 reference was made to a statement said to have appeared in the press that morning that there had been a renewal of the proposal for the United States to loan 1 billion dollars to Russia. Senator Johnson of Colorado declared that he thought it was incumbent upon the State Department to inform the Senate immediately if such a loan was contemplated or that no such loan would be made.2 The following statement has been prepared at the request of Senator Vandenberg with a view to his using it in the debate and attributing it to the Department:
“A loan to the Soviet Government is not under consideration and the Department of State is not now contemplating recommending a loan to that Government. The Soviet Government requested a loan in the late Summer of 1945.3 This Government raised a number of economic questions which it wished to discuss in connection with any loan. It was not possible to agree on an agenda for these discussions and consequently there have been no negotiations on the matter of a loan.
“The question of a loan is not involved in the recent agreement with the Soviet Government to begin negotiations for a lend-lease settlement. The negotiations will cover only matters related to the Soviet Master Lend-Lease Agreement of June 11, 1942.”
The statement will be given to Senator Vandenberg on Monday morning unless we receive word from you to the contrary.4
- April 16.↩
- See Congressional Record, vol. 93, pt. 3, p. 3648.↩
- Foreign Relations, 1945, vol. v, p. 1034.↩
- In reply by telegram 1482, Kosmos 54, from Moscow on April 20, 3 p. m., Secretary Marshall expressed both his own and Ambassador Smith’s concurrence.↩